Strong Inside
It's great that we have so much information today that helps us take care of our physical bodies--the best foods to eat, what supplements to take, how many hours of sleep we need, and countless exercise programs. It's important that we care for our bodies, which "are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God" (1 Corinthians 6:19). But we can do all the right things and look really great on the outside and still be weak and weary inside.
Joel's dad used to say it like this: "Some people feed their physical bodies three hot meals a day, but they feed their inner man one cold snack a week." He recognized that we have an inner man, and that inner man is the core of who we really are. It is our identity. It controls how we respond to life--our attitudes and our thoughts. When we have a strong inner man, we have the strength to walk a victorious life. In fact, some of the hurts that we suffer come because we're not engaging our spiritual man, but rather our flesh. We are saying negative things about ourselves. We're in strife with our spouse. We're talking about how much we don't like our job. We need to engage our inner core, our spiritual man, so we can quit having these unnecessary hurts. We need to take this command center, this spirit man, and walk in a posture of faith, of self-discipline, of confidence.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians "that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16). The inner man is strengthened by God through the Spirit. We have to take time, we have to find room in our busy lives every day, to let the Spirit of God minister life to us, to be touched by the living, breathing Word of God and the very presence of Almighty God, because that's what strengthens our inner man. We cannot neglect our inner man or we'll be weak, undisciplined, and weary inside.
Today I encourage you to develop your personal relationship with God on a daily basis. When you open your Bible and get into the Word, you're spending time with God and feeding your inner man. Ask Him to speak to you through His Word and through His Spirit. Make it a habit to strengthen your inner man because that's how your life will be transformed. You'll find a renewed vitality and power of God in your soul that makes all the difference.
Joel's dad used to say it like this: "Some people feed their physical bodies three hot meals a day, but they feed their inner man one cold snack a week." He recognized that we have an inner man, and that inner man is the core of who we really are. It is our identity. It controls how we respond to life--our attitudes and our thoughts. When we have a strong inner man, we have the strength to walk a victorious life. In fact, some of the hurts that we suffer come because we're not engaging our spiritual man, but rather our flesh. We are saying negative things about ourselves. We're in strife with our spouse. We're talking about how much we don't like our job. We need to engage our inner core, our spiritual man, so we can quit having these unnecessary hurts. We need to take this command center, this spirit man, and walk in a posture of faith, of self-discipline, of confidence.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians "that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man" (Ephesians 3:16). The inner man is strengthened by God through the Spirit. We have to take time, we have to find room in our busy lives every day, to let the Spirit of God minister life to us, to be touched by the living, breathing Word of God and the very presence of Almighty God, because that's what strengthens our inner man. We cannot neglect our inner man or we'll be weak, undisciplined, and weary inside.
Today I encourage you to develop your personal relationship with God on a daily basis. When you open your Bible and get into the Word, you're spending time with God and feeding your inner man. Ask Him to speak to you through His Word and through His Spirit. Make it a habit to strengthen your inner man because that's how your life will be transformed. You'll find a renewed vitality and power of God in your soul that makes all the difference.